Wed, 23rd March, 2022 Warloch Rest Area, 37km S of Mataranka to Mataranka Homestead Resort, Mataranka, NT (Thermal Pool & Nat Park)

 A mustering helicopter woke us up this morning, zooming around just near us. We are on Warloch Station, hence the name of the rest area. Blue sky with thin wispy clouds.

Taller grass, bigger trees and up and down rises as we head for Mataranka. Hard to imagine how Stuart, his men, the telegraph linesman and pioneers managed to push through this country and survive. 

Filled up at Mataranka Puma $223.9/L. I walked next door to the National Parks office to find out about camping in the National Park but the campground isn’t open yet. Like Lakefield nothing much opens before Easter. Oh well, looks like it is the $30 per night at the Homestead van park for us. They said we can fish etc in the Roper River in the National Park so hopefully we can catch a Barra.

Stopped at the mechanic shop so Steve could see if they have a computer to read the engine. The chap was very helpful and they found a fault and he said that we should replace the whole ‘common rail’ as he has seen heaps where they replace one part and then another so it is best to do the whole thing at once. Unfortunately they only get a delivery from Darwin once a week and we just missed it so we will continue on to Darwin and get it sorted there.

Drove towards the Mataranka Homestead and Elsey National Park. We stopped at the info board first.

Crossed over the Little Roper River and into the Homestead Resort area. The lady in reception was on the phone talking about a Kimberley cruise - she managed another company. She showed us where to park and we chatted about the problems Covid has caused. There are two people on board a cruise at the moment that tested positive on day 3 so they are confined to their room for 7 days - that’s the whole cruise. That’s our biggest problem - keeping ourselves free of Covid so we can go on and not get quarantined onboard. It’s a lot of money to just sit in your cabin and not be able to go on the excursions etc. 

No site bookings here so we just chose a spot and dropped the camper off so the truck’s springs can have a rest. Steve has put the legs down sometimes when we park up to take the weight off the springs even with the camper on. There is plenty of shade which is good as the forecast maximum today is 40. We camped here nearly 30 years ago with Daniel, Greg & Tracy. Decided to stay two nights

We put on our togs and headed down to the thermal pool. As the pool is always 32 degrees it should feel cooler as it is 40 degrees now. The resort backs right up to the national park so it is only a short walk. Read the info board first.

Three weeks ago all this area, where we are camped etc was all under water from the recent rain. You can certainly tell by all the palm leaves piled up around the trunks.

The pool is bigger now than when we were here 30 years ago. I suppose they needed too with some many people coming here in the winter months. The water is crystal clear and flowing well. Steve remembers swimming up the creek to try and find the hot water system that was making the water warm!!

At the other end of the pool the water rushes down over a rapid and then heads down to meet the Waterhouse River which then flows into the Roper River.

It is shallow this end so we went in and it was very nice even if it is warm.

We chatted away with another couple from West Wyalong, NSW till our fingers turned into prunes and we all noticed we were very hungry for lunch. It was after 1pm. On the way back we checked out where the water comes from under the ground - called Rainbow Spring and there is no swimming allowed here of course. The water just quietly bubbles up and then flows down to the pool and on to the river. Good information too about how it occurs.

The tall palms look impressive though it is very messy on the ground.

We had lunch then went for a drive into the rest of the national park. I got a photo this time when we crossed the Little Roper Creek. This flooded too and they were using a boat to get to and from the homestead.

Mr Bull has been wandering up and down the road pooping everywhere. Not sure if he is supposed to be in a national park!

We pulled into 4 Mile first which has a boat ramp. But the water is over the road so we had to park up the top and walk down.

Nice open area - hopefully we will find a Barra or two. Sadly no barra but I did retrieve a shallow diver lure so we are $15 up!

We could hear rapids downstream so we investigated and found a nice spot but no Barra wanted to eat our lures. The Riverside Walk has track closed signs on them.

On to the next spot called Walabarr. Quite pretty but no takers.

Last one is 12 Mile Yards where the NP campground is (which is still closed). We drove down the road to the boat ramp but no much room to walk along the bank and toss a lure and there appears to be lots of sandbars around.

Back up the top we checked out the old cattle yards built in 1969 and the information.

There is a walk to Mataranka Falls (4.2km) but it is closed too like the campground - will have to come back and check them out another time.

We did find a goanna - otherwise there is just grasshoppers everywhere.

On the way back we checked out the old sheep dip from when Dr Gilruth created Mataranka Station as a experimental research station. It didn’t work.

Back to camp for drinks in the thermal pool chatting with other campers. We found out the tall poles along the boardwalk that we thought were for spraying water in case of fire were actually put in by the national park to deter the hundreds of flying foxes that descended on the place. It worked but they still come back between Nov and Jan which is fine as no one comes here during those months.

Steve checked out a gate someone said to go through to fish in the Waterhouse River by the campground. He found a croc trap there with very smelly carcass hoping to lure in a croc. We decided that probably isn’t a good place to fish then.

Joined the others that work here in the bar for a chat about places to see etc. They showed us photos of the recent floods. The Little Roper River was very wide and they need boats to go back and forth.

There are couple more people camped here but otherwise it is very quiet.